Dancing with the Stars fans were shocked when Season 34 contestant Whitney Leavitt was eliminated during the semi-finals. The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star and her partner, Mark Ballas, served up strong performances in the Prince-themed episode. However, the duo did not have enough fan votes to make it to the finale.
Whitney and Mark were frontrunners to take home the Mirrorball since the first week of performances. While Robert Irwin and Witney Carson were ultimately crowned the Season 34 Mirroball champs, it begs the question of why the tide turned against Whitney. Well, Mark and Whitney revealed that they experienced some disgusting online hate.
Whitney Leavitt and Mark Ballas faced backlash during Dancing with the Stars
Whitney was one of the most controversial contestants on DWTS this season. She was called out for having prior dance experience. In addition, Season 3 of SLOMW dropped ahead of the semi-finals. In the series, Whitney revealed that she only filmed that season so she could audition for DWTS. That didn’t sit well with some fans. Plus, it looked like Whitney smirked when her SLOMW co-star Jen Affleck and Jan Ravnik were given the ballroom boot. Add in a disastrous giveaway snafu, and Whitney and Mark’s popularity took a hit.
Recently, the dancing duo appeared on the Call Her Daddy podcast and shared some horrifying news. Whitney and Mark received a bunch of hateful messages from online trolls. Some viewers felt that the DWTS treated Whitney as a favorite.
Then, Mark took out his phone and shared one of the messages. “You’re completely worthless, and I hope you burn in hell one day,” he read. And Mark said he received even worse messages.
Dealing with the online hate was tough for Whitney, especially because Mark was also targeted. In addition, Mark also revealed that in past seasons, he never saw fans vote for every other couple to force another contest off the show.
Online hate is never okay. Period.
Dancing with the Stars is available to stream on Disney+.
TELL US – WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE ONLINE HATE DIRECTED AT MARK AND WHITNEY? WHY DO YOU THINK THEY WERE TARGETED?
